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The Sharks somehow managed to do the impossible. They actually played worse this week than they did in the opening round.

For 70 minutes they battled to stay in a game that they should have won at a canter. Again, the culprits were shoddy handling, woeful commitment at the breakdown and just plain inability to master the basics of the game. Boland, in contrast, thought man-for-man nowhere near as skillful as the Sharks, were accurate in (virtually) everything that they did. They can possibly feel aggrieved at the strange refereeing decisions which ultimately took them out of the game.

I’m not going to lay into individuals as much as I did last week. Let’s just say that the only Sharks players I thought actually enhanced their reputations were Keegan Daniel, Charl Macleod and Monty Dumond. The latter simply HAS to start at fullback against the Bulls, with Brad Barritt back at flyhalf. Andy Borgen’s inexperience is not what you want behind a pack that seemingly can’t be bothered to compete at the breakdowns.

The pack as a whole was bad. The only area where we could lay any claim to dominance was the scrum. The lineouts were better and I felt that Burden actually did quite well, but the props and locks collectively had the sort of game they’d rather forget. I also don’t buy that Botes deserved man-of-the-match. To me, Daniel was the stand out forward, with the others lucky to be considered average. The sooner we realise that Steven Sykes and Niko Blignaut are locks, and not loose forwards, the better. It’s one thing to have little quick guys in your loose trio if you have a tight five that’s uber-grunty and a quick big guy to complement them in the back row. Three locks in tandem ain’t gonna work: all you end up with is your two little guys trying to hold off the entire opposition pack at each breakdown, while the slow heavies waddle their way over there.

Losing Deysel may well turn out to be the thing that undoes us in this campaign. Surely, now, the time has come to either buy someone, or give one of the youngsters a chance?

It’s tough to criticise the backs when they’re always getting bad ball, but geez – some of those guys should learn how to throw a decent pass. Lwazi Mvovo showed enough chutzpah to suggest that he deserves another run, but I am rapidly losing patience with “Old Stef” at the back. He has no appreciation whatsoever for when to pass, no clue who he should be passing to and on the rare occasions that he gets past the first two steps, he then seemingly doesn’t know how to execute said pass. The pace injection from the back is sorely needed when you have an axis comprising the slow Barritt and even slower Strauss. The problem is, Terreblanche, Mentz and Mvovo don’t play as a unit in the back three. In fact, we can add Murray to that equation. All four seem hell-bent on running as hard and fast as they can, smack into the oncoming defenders, only to look on in bewilderment when they are penalised for holding on. The thought of offloading, running into support or, God forbid, actually trying to run past a man instead of through him, never seems to occur.

It’s not good enough and only a fool would rate our chances of coming within ten points of the Bulls at Loftus this weekend. The Sharks look like a dumb team playing dumb rugby and getting by on dumb luck. Unless they find a way to change that around, rapidly, they are not going to find themselves in contention in two months’ time, regardless of their current log standing.

Possibly the most concerning sign of all, though, was that the team clearly considered Friday night’s “performance” worthy of a lap of honour around ABSA Stadium. A more damning indictment on the acceptance of mediocrity there cannot be.

93 Comments

Spot on again Rob.
I agree with you about Monty Dummond (who I was not a fan of before this match) but he should play at 10.
Anyone but Terblanche at 15.
Again I was impressed with Skollie Ndlovu and I would replace Botes with him. We have to have some big, quick loosies lurking around somewhere to complement him.
Burden was better but still nowhere near good enough.

Most of all we need a backline coach. Quickly.

Comment 1, posted at 29.06.08 22:50:36 by Flashman

I wouldn’t drop Botes for Skollie… I think that we must bear in mind that Skollie has looked fantastic coming on as a late sub for a maximum of 25 minutes in total. He needs more experience before he’s ready to start.

I think that by moving Sykes back to lock and dumping Hargreaves we’ll already see a big improvement.

Comment 2, posted at 29.06.08 22:57:19 by robdylan

Good article Rob.

I agree that we shouldn’t read too much into Botes’ 2 tries; he was playing at openside,and yet the breakdowns were appalling, as has been the Shark’s wont of late.

Stefan reminds me of the Putt days with his absolute determination to kick every ball that dares come near him.

One player for Boland who played more than just spoiling rugby was their 12, Lionel Cornelius. Big, strong, fast-ish, kicked well, tackled well and ran good lines.

Comment 5, posted at 29.06.08 23:37:54 by Flashman

@Flashman (Comment 5) : And a goal kicker. Did you notice he spent much of the second half at pivot? We could do worse…

Comment 6, posted at 30.06.08 06:56:51 by robdylan

IMO the referee JC Fortuin helped the Sharks to actually get momentum in this game and that pass to Mentz for the bonus try was way forward, surely the TMO would have seen it…Dumond was good suprisingly…Kockott might get punished for that hit on Andries Human…Think Rory had develop an ego that might have a negative effect on him as a player…Murray are surely moving backwards…He missed a few easy tackles including the one that led to Boland’s 1st try… Line outs poor… “Oupa” John Daniels have beaten Henno Mentz to easy on the outside… Hope the Sharks can fix all their problems in time… Boland was only a semi professional outfit, next weeks match against the Bulls @ Loftus might turn out into a slaughter for the Sharks…

@Flashman (Comment 5) : Showed some great touches, quite a capeable flyhalf aswell, just a pity that Boland does not have a sponsor to keep all these talents…

Comment 10, posted at 30.06.08 08:04:28 by Charlie

Fortuin has grown in stature as a ref, though. You always feel like he’s in control these days. The decision to card Brinkhuys was insane, though. Not sure the Sharks would have won otherwise. Btw, I didn’t think Daniel’s pass was forward. His momentum was stopped just as he passed, which made it look forward, but the ball left his hands traveling backwards

@robdylan (Comment 12) : … I do care about the game rugby in the whole frame…

Comment 13, posted at 30.06.08 08:21:56 by Charlie

ooooops
Sharks scrumhalf Rory Kockott will miss the next two Absa Currie Cup matches because of an ankle injury sustained against the Boland on Friday night, opening the door for either Scott Mathie or Charl MacLeod, the youngster who replaced Kockott when he went off.

@MrG (Comment 14) : shit. Not good. At least scrummie is one area where we have good depth

Comment 16, posted at 30.06.08 09:00:03 by robdylan

Good Morning Guys,

I was at the game and was amaized at the size for those Bolanders.
They played well in 1 st but were never in our half in 2 nd. I think the Sharks try to open the game up too soon. Rather keep it tight, drive it up before the fancy quick passes that get knocked on etc.

Also take the 3 points on offer.(11- 10) at the time.

Bulls have a problem next week. — 14 – 3 up and then throw it away. I’m still waiting for Hilton Lobberts to do something constructive on a rugby field.

Comment 17, posted at 30.06.08 10:03:40 by Ernie

@Ernie (Comment 17) : he does lots of constructive things – for the opposition. Hope he plays against us

I went to the game, thanks to Sharksworld, but in the 1st half was just about to get up and leave! Can someone please go to SHark Land and explain to them what Wings are for! Stefan in particular needs a one on one to explain to him the concept of passing the ball to an unmarked wing! I swear when there was an unmarked Mvovo screaming for the ball and Terreblanche refused (it can only be termed as such) to pass went to ground and it was turn over ball, I felt like going on the field and walloping him with my cooler box!

When I saw Rory leaving I thought there we go we are screwed, but I felt Charl had a good game! And Monty has to start. Any idea when Jean will come back?

Rob I agree with you irt Muller, he has really not impressed as captain either, and Murray gets worse every game, that Bolander just walked right over him while he made half an attempt to stop him

@Charlie(Comment 7) : That pass to Wylie Human was also forward and his heel was on the line – The Bulls were robbed! And that dive by DeWaal was worthy of any soccer player!

quite honestly, I think the first round this year is going to be one big lottery while the teams try their best to fathom yet another set of new laws and new interpretations of existing laws.

Comment 43, posted at 30.06.08 11:54:24 by robdylan

@Oranje Orakel (Comment 41) : when we play in 2 weeks time, whose house are we playing at?

Comment 44, posted at 30.06.08 11:57:25 by robdylan

@robdylan (Comment 30) :
Didnt you see Rudolf 10 paces behind them with his drawn Luger and finger on the trigger – he was marching them to a mudbath on one of the outfields.

Read some straight talk from John Plumtree in yesterdays Rapport. To say he’s pissed off would be an understatement. It was an article written by JJ Harmse and I swear robdylan himself could have written it.

Comment 45, posted at 30.06.08 12:08:47 by Salmonoid

@Salmonoid (Comment 45) : well, good… problem is, he has limited depth, so dropping guys until they get the message is not really an option.

Comment 46, posted at 30.06.08 12:10:54 by robdylan

@robdylan (Comment 46) :
Well from what I have seen none of the Vodacom Cup new boys can be accused of being passengers, maybe a bit out of their depth at times, but certainly willing. Id rather watch willing than complacement even if it means losing. Boland being a good example of this.

Comment 47, posted at 30.06.08 12:34:06 by Salmonoid

At the risk of sounding forward…You Sharks guys are at least Winning..be a little grateful for that.
I’d certainly swap winning ugly for not winning at all at the moment.

They did themselves proud for more than 40 minutes, mate… they were right in the game up until 5 minutes from time.

Comment 55, posted at 30.06.08 14:56:12 by robdylan

@robdylan (Comment 55) :
Sorry my mistake but the Grote sound pretty exciting for Boland. His aim will be to wear the Stormers jersey in 2009, hope he gets it.

How did Marnus Hugo go in the game?

This week Dewald is back and surely will play against Griekwas.

Comment 56, posted at 30.06.08 15:00:35 by PaarlBok

@PaarlBok (Comment 56) : didn’t think too much of Hugo. Did the basics and his service was accurate… maybe that’s all you’re meant to do as a scrummie… Papier certainly looked a lot more exciting, though.

So noooo excuse for not getting around the park…
If he were in the LIONS team he would have been slightly bigger than the smallest loose forward in Baywatch who is a good deal shorter but one site says he is 101kg and another 108kg…so no excuse for not getting around…I mean conpared to a Willem Alberts that is just under 120kg…

Comment 74, posted at 30.06.08 19:10:44 by Hmmm

I would never play Niki at lock…I don’t even think Varkhond Grobler is good enough for 1st class rugby as lock and he is the same hight but Varkhond is 115 kg….

Comment 75, posted at 30.06.08 19:13:38 by Hmmm

Sykes yes…he is just under 2 meters and olver 110 kg if memory serves…agree on him not being expected to get around the park at pace…

Comment 76, posted at 30.06.08 19:20:15 by Hmmm

@Hmmm (Comment 75) : Varkhond? Another classic following in the footsteps of Draadkar and Bakkies!